Thermal Environment, Ventilation Effectiveness, and Infection Risk of Restaurant with Impinging Jet Ventilation

Abstract

The basic strategy of the impinging jet ventilation system (IJV) is to keep high air quality within the occupied zone. In IJV, the air supplied from ducts impinges on the floor and spread through the lower level of the room. When the air reaches the heat sources, it rises upward and is exhausted around the ceiling. Most of the previous works about IJV focus on simple room set-ups, whereas the studies focus on realistic set-ups are limited. To investigate the applicability of IJV to a more practical situation, CFD analysis was conducted in a room that simulated a restaurant. In this numerical study, thirty-two seated occupants were distributed in the restaurant hall as the heat and contaminant sources (contaminant was released from their mouth), while a large amount of heat was generated by the equipment in the kitchen. The indoor environment of IJV was compared to that of the mixing ventilation system (MV) in terms of thermal environment, ventilation effectiveness, and infection risk. The results showed that IJV were superior to MV in terms of air conditioning efficiency, pollutant removal efficiency, and infection risk reduction. In conclusion, the results suggest that IJV can improve the indoor environment.